The Obesity War... Fighting fat and our own impatience
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Losing weight quickly is pretty easy; starving yourself... living on lemon juice.... drinking cabbage soup every hour (and these are only a few of the range of rediculous dietary advice out there!) all work... The key thing to remember is that weight that comes off quickly goes back on quickly (with a bit extra) and you don't want that. People are quickly to tell you their stories of how much weight they lost in "x" amount of time by using particular supplements, eating copious amounts of tropical berries etc however if you take a step back you will realise that their stories end rather quickly.... there is usually no happy ending regarding how they successfully kept the weight off! In reality they jump from one quick fix to another.
But it's working....I'm losing weight... right!??
It is easy to be comforted by the scales reflecting a massive drop in weight however this is often a loss of water and muscle mass rather than a reduction of actual body fat! Our impatience with our own bodies combined with the eagerness to "prove" the science behind new diets can lead us to forming unhelpful habits, in particular weighing ourselves every day (some people confess to weighing themselves 3 or 4 times a day!). This constant weighing not only distorts the calculation of fat loss but more importantly it is really bad for morale as our initial excitement easily turns to disappointment.
The truth is, once we start making drastic changes to our diet, we often make subconcious changes in the background and it is these changes that are actually the key to weight management success. For example, people starting a course of "metabolism boosters" often decide to change their diet at the same time; the result of this being the false attribution of success on the pills rather than changes made in their dietary habits. In their mind they lost weight due to the drugs so they may use them again if they need to drop a few pounds.
I would urge anyone to steer clear of any regime or product claiming to help you lose weight quickly..... ultimately you need to ask yourself why the weight loss should be fast!
Surely, what you want to do is manage your weight safely in the long term without the physical and emotional punishment that has become synonymous with far too many weight loss regimes. With so many diets in the marketplace and new dieting "miracles" being announced almost daily, it is a confusing sea of supposed success to swim through in order to decide which ones are likely to succeed for you. Although I would avoid recommending any I would advise you to avoid any plan....
- promising fast weight loss
- built around a specific food e.g.a fruit or vegetable
- that seriously restricts your calorie intake (unless supervised by a doctor)
Making small changes to portion size, reducing the amount of refined white carbs such as white bread and white pasta and just moving about more will over time bring about the best results which will be long lasting! Take it slowly and try to enjoy the ride......
